ACC plans Rs 2,900 cr capex by 2010

Cement major ACC today said it would invest around Rs 2,900 crore in the next one year to increase its capacity to over 30 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from the present 22.63 mtpa.

"Our capex plan for 2009 is about Rs 1,600 crore and for 2010, it is Rs 1,300 crore," ACC Chairman N S Sekhsaria said at the company's Annual General Meeting here.

Company's Managing Director Sumit Banerjee later told reporters that the proposed capex would be funded largely from internal accruals.

"There is no slowdown in the projects that have been taken up for implementation. These expansion projects should take ACC's capacity to over 30 mtpa by 2010," Sekhsaria said.

ACC is increasing its Bargarh plant capacity to 2.3 mtpa and is also commissioning a 30-Mw power plant there. It is also setting up two greenfield grinding plants in Karnataka which would go on steam by the end of the year.

A 7,000-tonne per day clinker line and an additional 25 Mw captive power plant at Chanda in Maharashtra should be ready by the middle of 2010.

ACC produced 20.83 million tonnes of cement in 2008, up by 4.6 per cent over 2007. It increased its market share to 12.2 per cent in 2008 from 11.8 per cent in the previous year.